1. You may identify the stasis in the play but it isn’t necessarily at the beginning of the play. Where is it and who does it involve? NOTE: Do not assume that the stasis of the play is the same as the stasis of the video version that you are required to see. Only discuss the play in this and answers to the following questions.
The stasis of the play involves Anna Deavere Smith conducting interviews with the residents of Crown Heights Brooklyn by various methods including face to face as well as over telephone. Each subject explains issues they face and events they witness such as discrimination, identity, and what life was like living in Crown Heights as a black or Lubavitcher.
2. Ball points out that the intrusion sometimes occurs late in the dramatic action. What is the intrusion that breaks the stasis in Fires in the MIrror and how is it broken?
The intrusion of this play is the monologue by Rabbi Spielman. Until now, the purpose of conducting all of these interviews is unclear, or what caused all of these outbreaks in the community. At this point, the audience is now aware of the turmoil between the two and why.
3. Why do the events of the play take place at this particular time and place? In other words, what is the unique factor that is out of the ordinary that causes a turn of events to take place? Hint: the unique factor may have something to do with you? How does the title figure in your answer?
This production is unique compared to the rest of the plays we've read in class because instead of reading like a story, it reads as though each character is having an interview with the audience. The events they describe aren't in chronological order, but done this way instead to read more like news reports or journal entries so the audience feels enclosed in this conflicting era.
4. State the dramatic questions that must be answered by the end of the play? (Ordinarily, the dramatic question shares a close connection with the intrusion.)
Will discrimination and prejudice ever be absent in this country?
Can someone find their identity among others who share similar characteristics? Among others with different characteristics?
5. Use the narrator of the work to answer the questions concerning character. Ball says, a character is revealed by what he/she does, ie. The dramatic actions that are taken. Examine what these particular characters wants. The wants of a character often encounter obstacles that get in the way of achieving those wants. Ball says there are 4 kinds of obstacles that frustrate the wants of a character. They are: a. Me against myself, b. Me against another individual, c. Me against society (that is law, social norms, etc.) and, d. Me against fate, the universe, natural forces, God or the gods. In answering these questions be sure to point to the particular obstacles that demonstrate these obstacles facing the narrator.
What the narrator is doing is letting other people's opinions speak for the issue itself by speaking about their own experiences to shed light on the situation of the deaths in the community. Each individual she interviews, for the most part, struggles with a me against society obstacle. When further analyzing the text, however, it's interesting to see how similar the two communities are. Each feel repressed, but it's more so by the police force than each other like they think. All each character can do though is do what they think will bring change for the better in their community.
6. The most important information in most plays takes place during theatrical moments. Identify the most theatrical moments in Fires in the Mirror.
Henry Rice's account of unnecessary violence he faced as an advocate for justice through nonviolence
Carmel Cato's tired and emotional monologue alone in the darkness
2. Ball points out that the intrusion sometimes occurs late in the dramatic action. What is the intrusion that breaks the stasis in Fires in the MIrror and how is it broken?
3. Why do the events of the play take place at this particular time and place? In other words, what is the unique factor that is out of the ordinary that causes a turn of events to take place? Hint: the unique factor may have something to do with you? How does the title figure in your answer?
4. State the dramatic questions that must be answered by the end of the play? (Ordinarily, the dramatic question shares a close connection with the intrusion.)
5. Use the narrator of the work to answer the questions concerning character. Ball says, a character is revealed by what he/she does, ie. The dramatic actions that are taken. Examine what these particular characters wants. The wants of a character often encounter obstacles that get in the way of achieving those wants. Ball says there are 4 kinds of obstacles that frustrate the wants of a character. They are: a. Me against myself, b. Me against another individual, c. Me against society (that is law, social norms, etc.) and, d. Me against fate, the universe, natural forces, God or the gods. In answering these questions be sure to point to the particular obstacles that demonstrate these obstacles facing the narrator.
6. The most important information in most plays takes place during theatrical moments. Identify the most theatrical moments in Fires in the Mirror.